Be Careful What You Wish For
by melissaeverlasting
Summary: Max, frustrated with life in general, wishes on a shooting star that she and her friends could just be normal for once. The next morning? Her wish comes true.
1. Wishes

**01. Wishes**

* * *

Our lives suck.

But you know this. Whether you're blog readers, or bookworms, or just fans... well, it's pretty obvious, right? I bet our biggest fans could even tell me _why_ this is.

So who can explain why it was hitting me so hard at this particular moment?

It was about six or so hours after we'd left my mom's house, and we were over a park somewhere near Arizona. It was dark. I was weary, especially since I'd just found out that Dr. Martinez was my mother and Ella was my half-sister (we had different fathers. I don't know who hers was, but I'll take a -- no pun intended -- _flying leap_ and assume he was better than mine... but more on that later) and hadn't been able to spend much time with them.

Of course, I did have my _real_ family back (there are six of us, I'm the oldest, and I'm not gonna explain our whole lives to you here so go look us up on Wikipedia or something if you're so curious), but even that had a downside. You know that awkward stage between friendship and more, or, more specifically, that stage where you've just reunited from a separation brought on by your accepting a formerly evil Eraser into your flock, thus causing your best friend of 14 years to _not_ support you for the first time _ever_, and to leave, taking half of your flock of flying mutant bird kids with him? Well, I bet you don't. But still, that's what Fang and I were going through. At least, _I_ was. I hadn't picked up anything weird from him, besides the fact that he seemed somewhat happy.

Also, I had not too long ago seen someone -- my half-brother, actually -- _die_ before my eyes. He'd been seven years old, and led such a horrible, twisted life... well, it still hurt to think about it.

Anyway, in addition all this, which, I realize, has sounded -- in the most general sense -- fairly normal so far, I still had a Voice in my head that wouldn't stop telling me to save the world. Actually, it was Jeb: my father. Yeah. See why I'm not exactly rushing out and buying a '#1 Dad' coffee mug for him? I'm 14. Now, I don't know how old you are, but to me, that seems like a lot to take on at any age.

Anyway, this was taking its toll on me pretty hard, because of the state of my emotions, and although I'm the strong, fearless leader, I think it was starting to show.

"Max, are you okay?" Nudge asked, looking concerned. "I mean, I know it's been, like, six hours and we're all tired, but, come on, you were so happy earlier, I mean, you found your mom! And she was who you wanted her to be! And Ella's cool, too, she's only a year or two older than me and -- and, well, I know it was weird with Jeb, how he's, you know, the Voice and all, and then now he's your father too... I know _that_ must be weird, but--"

"Nudge." I silenced her with a hand. Yeah, that's her... and I bet you thought _I_ was ranting at the beginning. "I'm fine," I promised her, trying to convince myself. I had been okay earlier... I'd been really happy. But now... I don't know, now something was just getting me.

"Anyway, can we stop here? I'm getting really tired," said the Gasman, and his sister Angel nodded.

You can't say no to Angel (and that's not just due to the fact that she has mind control powers, although that is part of it), and I _was_ exhausted, so I agreed.

"There's a park here," Fang said, unnecessarily. _Um, obviously?_ But I didn't say it. I still had no idea how to act. So instead I just nodded, and started downwards into the darkness.

When we hit the ground (well, we didn't _hit_ it, we're much more graceful than that, honest), Iggy automatically rested his back against a tall tree. Blind or not, he always seemed to scope out the best places for himself. "So what's our next move?" he asked.

I didn't answer right away. If you've ever been a leader in anything, you'll know how hard it is to admit you don't know something. I was no exception. "Well," I finally said, "we still have to save the world, right? I think we should look into that. Make a plan." All you leaders out there will also recognize the "vague and evasive" approach... but it worked. The kids -- Nudge the mile-a-minute-mouth is 11; the Gasman, or, formally, _Gazzy_ is eight; and Angel, my baby, is only six and Iggy (who's 14, like me and Fang, but acts eight most of the time) -- always bought it. They trusted me to always know what to do, and to make everything happen. Fang, though -- well, he knew me better than that. Always has.

After we ate (oh yeah -- if you left a bag of groceries behind in a secluded park, I swear I know nothing about it), we settled down to sleep. Tired though I was, I stayed up until everyone else had fallen asleep, doing... leader-y stuff. Yeah, I know, real eloquent: we only went to school for a few months, in Virginia, and it had only helped me realize how much I'd hate to have to go every day.

But would I? It would be a normal life, a normal existence... no ridiculous complications, like wings or microchips. Yeah... I could have someone take care of _me_, for once, rather than always having to know what to do. If I were normal, I could actually say the words "I don't know" and not feel like a horrible person. I could have friends, and CDs, and a family I was actually related to.

Not that I hated my real life or anything... well, I _did_ hate having to worry about the little things (food, shelter, survival, you know, nothing _really_ important), and my childhood had been less than perfect. I spent mine in a cage, you spent yours in a sandbox. How are these different? Let me count the ways... But... wait a minute, there _was_ no "but". I saw no reason being normal wouldn't, at that moment, be totally preferable to anything else.

So, naturally, I saw a shooting star. Storyline purposes, right? My whole life is a freaking movie. Now, I'm not a lame Disney character or whatever, and I swear to God I _don't_ believe in that sort of thing, but I had to try -- come on, what would _you_ have done in my situation?

"Sometimes," I actually whispered out loud, keeping my voice so low even Iggy and his hyper alert ears wouldn't hear me, "I just wish I... _we_... could be normal. No wings, no Voice, nothing. Just... normal."

Obviously I felt really stupid once I'd done it. I mean, did I actually expect it to work? Next thing you knew I'd be believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

Ridiculous. Even Angel didn't believe in those two.

Eventually I had recovered and swallowed enough stupid pride to sleep, and I lay down on the hard ground, wishing it were a soft bed.

And, the next morning, I woke up in one.


	2. Where's the Catch?

**02. Where's the Catch?**

_

* * *

_

Where is the moment when needed the most

_You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost_

_They tell me your blue skies fade to grey_

_They tell me your passion's gone away_

_And I don't need no carrying on_

_You stand in the line just to hit a new low_

_You're faking a smile with the coffee to go_

_They tell me your life's been way off line_

_You're falling to pieces every time_

_And I don't need no carrying on_

_'Cause you had a bad day_

_You're taking one down_

_You sing a sad song just to turn it around_

_You say you don't know_

_You tell me "Don't lie"_

_You work with a smile and you go for a ride_

_You had a bad day_

_The camera don't lie_

_You're coming back down and you really don't mind_

_You had a bad day_

_You had a bad day_

I just lay there in shock, listening to the music coming from the clock radio, which said **6:15**. Who the heck got up that early? Where _was_ I? Had I been kidnapped, like before? Was my clone, Max II, part of this at all?

I finally came to my senses and got up, and I froze in shock. It wasn't what was there, but what _wasn't_. My back was bare… and I mean bare in the sense that could only apply to me: no wings. _Oh my God_. What was this? I needed answers.

Trying to keep somewhat calm, despite my panic, I walked around, taking in my surroundings. It was a bedroom -- a comfortable bedroom. It was plain; there was a phone, computer, and printer on top of a honey-colored desk in the corner, and I went forward to examine it further. A backpack, some textbooks, a hairbrush, and a couple tubes of lip gloss were on top, and there was a mirror above it. I also saw an iPod, including artists by the names of Lifehouse, Aly & AJ, Bowling for Soup, Daughtry, The Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch, Nine Days, One Republic, The Plain White T's, Simple Plan, Matchbox Twenty, etc... seemed like all the new, trendy music you could think of. Oh well. At least no Hannah Montana or (worse) High School Musical.

There were full bookshelves on either side of the room, and a closet on the left. Inside were just jeans and t-shirts. No flash or bling, no posters, no walls painted neon green or (ugh) pink, nothing jumping out at you -- just a plain, comfortable room. Just like I liked. It was like the room had been designed for me... and I liked it. The bed I'd for some reason been in had felt like heaven. Was I... no. It was unthinkable. I couldn't be dead.

But I suddenly realized... if I _had_ kicked the bucket, heaven looked a lot like Mom's house.

It was a totally new bedroom, but just the layout of it... I could tell, for some reason, that that's where I was. The thought comforted me exponentially. As long as I was with someone I knew, someone safe...

Anyway, after I'd given the room a nice little once-over, I let the panicking begin. Where _was_ I? What had happened? I was with Mom and Ella... but why? Why did I have a room in their house, or else seem to? Was everybody else here too?

"Lauren, get up! You're going to be late!"

It was my mom's voice, but... _Lauren_? Who was that? Before I could dash outside and ask, however, the Voice chimed in. Jeb.

_That would be you,_ he said, and I swear I heard him chuckle. _You wanted to be normal, didn't you?_

_Is this another 'test'?_ I thought at him, annoyed. _Even now that I know you're my father, you're still going to be giving me sick, potentially life-threatening tasks to carry out? How... soap opera-ish of you._

This isn't quite a test. It's a little different. Do you remember how, at the School, we told you that we had implanted memories of the whole last eight months, that it had all been a dream?

_You mean you _lied_ that it had all been a dream_, I thought back (the mental version of talking back, I guess). _And yeah. So what?_

_So we used a version of that, inspired by the wish you made, and sent you and the rest of the flock into what would have been your normal lives if you hadn't been experimented on._

I couldn't breathe. I meant to reply with something with attitude, but instead came: _This would be my life? With Mom and Ella? Where are _you?

_My life is too dangerous for you to get involved in_, Jeb replied, and I had no idea how I'd feel about that. _In this... reality, your mother and I actually were in a relationship. You've never known me, however._

_Sounds like you sent me to heaven,_ I thought snidely, not entirely meaning what I'd said. _So where's the catch? This is just a -- for lack of a better word -- experiment?_

_That's your decision, Max. If you decide this normal life is better than knowing who you consider your real family, then you can stay. Otherwise... well, we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it._

_So I can just enjoy this?_ I asked skeptically. _Like a... vacation, or whatever?_

_That would work. Now, some background information -- your name is Lauren Martinez. You live with your mother and younger sister by two years, Ella. She had a different father than you, who died soon after she was born and who I understand was someone you all really loved and have grieved for. And, if we're right on schedule, you're about to be yelled at in three, two, one..._

"Lauren Rosita Martinez, if you don't get out of bed right now and come to breakfast table I can promise you will lose the ability to! Come ON!"

_Now._


	3. First Day of School

**03. First Day of School**

* * *

Okay. I'm going to admit something to you here, something you'll surely be incredibly shocked to hear.

As I stepped out of the (my?) room, I was actually scared.

Was that felt like to be normal? Scared and weak all the time? I still wanted to give it a shot, but...

I walked into the kitchen, which looked exactly the same as I knew it and, feeling ridiculous, said "Sorry."

"Uh-huh," Mom replied, eyebrows raised. "Was something going on?"

"No, just... got a late start." I'm so great at making up excuses.

Maybe not. "Were you up late IMing? Because I won't buy that as an excuse."

"Sorry," I said again. This was weird... I was used to flying and talking about ways to save the world, and now I was IMing and talking about getting to school on time? Huge difference.

"Well, eat fast," she said, picking up her keys and starting toward the door. "I need to be in early today, but I'll be home around two. Okay?"

"Okay," I answered, and she called out, "Ella! I'm leaving!"

"Bye!" she shouted back.

Mom kissed my cheek and left the house.

It took a bit -- just a bit -- to muster enough courage to do this, but eventually I'd gathered up enough bravery to yell "ELLA!"

"WHAT?" I heard her yell back, and I was pleased that it had worked out.

"Come here!"

"Why?"

"Just do it," I said, sighing, and she was in the room within a minute.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah. Do you want a donut? Mom got some this morning."

"Sure," I said eagerly. She motioned to where the box was, and I chose a jelly filled one. Not a bad beginning! Ella was writing something in a notebook as I ate.

It was good, and I was pretty surprised to find out that I only really needed to eat one. That made me feel even more normal, and it wasn't a bad feeling. "What're you writing?" I asked Ella, figuring she'd have to tell me. I _was_ older, after all.

"Nothing." She snatched the notebook up and stuffed it in her backpack, which was next to her chair. "Come on, we have to go. Bus comes in five minutes."

"Okay," I said, and went into _my room_ and threw on a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt from my closet, ran a brush quickly through my hair, and grabbed the backpack on the desk. As I was doing all of this, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror above and was shocked again. I just looked really -- all modesty aside -- pretty.

My hair was, like, dark-blonde; more brown than blonde, really. It was bone-straight (I was used to it being everywhere; out-of-control) and my eyes were brown and shining.

With an appearance like that... I wondered if I had a boyfriend at the school I apparently went to. The thought freaked me out a little, but I smiled a bit when I remembered how confused I'd been about Fang. Then thinking about him made me think about the rest of the flock. Jeb had said that if I chose this life, I wouldn't be able to know them. That would be torturous, hellish, and a bunch of other words like that. Those five kids were my life, the only thing that kept me going. But I didn't plan to choose that, anyway, so what did it matter if we were apart for just a teeny little bit of time? I was sure they were happy, too, wherever they were.

I try a lot to convince myself of things, in case you haven't noticed.

The boyfriend thing, though... I didn't know if I'd be able to do that.

"Lauren! The bus'll be here in like 30 seconds! Come on!"

When I heard Ella's voice my stomach lurched again, but I didn't have a choice.

_Ready or not, here I come_, I thought as I walked out of the room.

* * *

Yo. If I thought I'd been scared earlier, it was nothing compared to how I felt on my first view of the bus stop: there were _other people_ there. Other kids.

That was scary, but here's the weirdest part: I wasn't scared of them because I thought they could be Erasers or whatever, but rather because I started to feel -- get this -- _self-conscious_.

I'd eaten breakfast etc. late, so of course I hadn't had a chance to brush my teeth or make my hair perfect or anything, and I was bound to act awkwardly around these people I knew but didn't know (if you know what I mean).

When Ella and I first got there, there were four people waiting. One was a girl I suppose you'd classify as a "nerd" -- big thick glasses, wool skirt, nose in a book, you know, the works; she looked about 14. Another was a younger boy, maybe around eight (although he looked nothing like the eight year old I knew, I realized with a little pain in my heart) who was just looking down at the ground. His clothes looked old and worn, and he seemed like maybe he didn't have a lot of money. There was also a guy who looked perhaps a year or two older than me. He had dark hair, like Fang, but green eyes. I guess some people might have called him cute, but to me he looked arrogant and annoyed. The last was a really pretty girl, probably my age, who was tall with blue eyes and sleek black hair that resembled the guy's. She started talking to me the second I looked at her.

"Lauren!" she started, sounding irritated. "I told you to be online at six yesterday, and I waited for, like, three years and you never showed!"

"Sorry," I said for about the fortieth time that morning. "I was... watching TV."

"Oh, yeah... wait," she stopped, looking confused. "I thought you didn't watch too much TV. Like, I've always thought you were, like, totally crazy for that?"

"I was watching something with Ella," I lied, nudging her so that she wouldn't deny it. She didn't, but gave me a look that told I'd have a _lot of 'splaining _to do when we got home. _Sigh._

"Oh." The girl smiled, and I looked past her to see the bright yellow school bus (forgive me if I sound a little too "Junie B. Jones" here) coming towards us.

"Of course Queen Lauren gets to get on first," said the dark-haired guy, smiling even though I'd found his comment rude.

"What?" I asked, trying to summon some attitude. "No I don't."

"Sure you do," he continued, and I'd already decided to hate him, "we always do this. Lauren, then Ella 'cause she's Lauren's little sister..." -- he actually pinched her cheek for emphasis -- "then me, of course, then Amy" -- the dark-haired girl -- "and then Marta and Daniel can always duke it out to see who goes next."

I assumed those were the two other kids there, the "nerd" and the young kid who looked poor (and whose eyes were filling with tears), and didn't join in with his and Amy's laughter. "Shut up," I said, glaring at them.

Amy looked shocked, but the jerk just smiled smugly. By that time the bus had stopped, and obviously no one would get on if I didn't, so I got on and chose an empty seat in the middle.

"You kidding?" Amy asked when she got on. "Back." And she sat down in the last seat in the back, me plopping down right next to her. Apparently we were friends.

"Hey, what's with you and Jason?" she asked when I'd sat down and was watching Marta try to sit down next to an insanely gorgeous blonde girl, who kicked her out into the aisle. "Oh, she's fine," Amy decided, following my gaze. "That's what you get when you dress like that." She snorted and then continued, in a lower voice, "Anyway, _Jason_?"

"Who?" I asked, startled back into reality.

"My brother. Won 'Best Smile' three years in a row. Guy we've been trying to make your boyfriend?"

_Trying?_ How freaking pathetic. "Oh, that Jason," I responded lamely.

"Yeah, _that_ Jason." Amy rolled her eyes. "Because after all, what's the point of being, like, the prettiest girl in school if you can't get, like, fixed up with the most popular guy in school?" It wasn't sarcasm. Inwardly I was groaning, but Miss Perky just giggled at her -- so-called -- wit. "Anyway, I got another idea last night," she continued. "If you'd've been online, you would've heard it! Anyway, it's, like, brilliant, it's..."

And we went on like this for the entire 15-minute bus ride. I stopped listening somewhere around the seventh "like", and while Amy gabbed and gabbed, I thought about... stuff. Like (no, I didn't just say that. Damn girl was rubbing off on me!), what kind of person _was_ I, to have such mean, annoying friends? How different was I? And why did I still have a voice in my head, if I was supposedly completely normal? Did The School exist or not? Did they create other hybrids, or what?

And how the _heck_ would I get through this school day?

* * *

Finally we got to school and off the bus. I was walking really quickly toward the school -- "Hillpark", what kind of dumb nature-y name is that? -- to lose Amy when a pretty, brown-haired, kind-looking girl my age walked up to me.

"Lauren?" she asked. She wrinkled her nose. "Were you talking to Amy?"

I sighed, despite having no clue who this girl was, and said, "Unfortunately. It was unavoidable."

"Guess that's the problem when the most annoying girl in school lives right next door to you. Did you manage to lose her online last night?"

I laughed and said, "Yeah. Let's call it luck."

"Luck? You're calling the hours of planning we did to skillfully avoid her no doubt _ingenious_ plans of setting you up with her brother _luck_?"

"The result was lucky," I said and now we both laughed. It was easy to talk to this girl, even though I didn't know her at all. My spirits lifted as well -- evidently Amy and I weren't friends after all, just neighbors who had to be nice to each other. I wasn't a bad person!

"You've got that right. I'm your best friend, but if you started dating _Jason Simms_ I'd swear we'd never met."

"Believe me, I wouldn't wanna know myself either," I joked, really happy now. I knew it didn't matter, but I was really relieved to see that I wouldn't be a jerk if I were normal. And that I'd have a best friend as cool and funny as... well, the name hadn't been revealed yet, but my point is that she was really cool.

We kept talking as we walked into school, and everything was just coming naturally. When we reached the row of lockers, however, I swallowed hard. How would I know the combination, or what number I had, or anything like that? This school was different from the one in Virginia, and I'd never opened a locker. Well, I had but hadn't.

You're not the only one who's confused, let me tell you.

_How do I do this? Which one's mine?_ I wondered, hoping to God that Jeb would answer.

_I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you. There is a schedule in the locker, but you do need to get in first. Sorry._

Then he told me the combination and how to open it and everything, and I actually did it. Cool. Score one for Max! Or, _Lauren_, I guess. I actually kind of liked that name, believe it or not. It could've been worse, at least... thank God I wasn't something lame like "Olga" or something prissy like, um... "Priscilla"?

Anyway, turned out my friend and I had the exact same schedule, and our lockers were side-by-side, which I figured would make it easier to get through the day. I just took out the same books and folders she did, trying to keep my constant copying of what she was doing as inconspicuous as possible.

Our first class was (gag me) Geometry. My first impression of the teacher, Mr. Noten, wasn't good: he was just sitting there drinking Mountain Dew and checking his email as the class threw paper and stuff around. My friend and I sat down in the back, and she rolled her eyes.

Couple minutes later the guy started calling attendance.

"Doesn't he know our names by now?" I whispered.

My friend laughed. "Never gets old," she said.

Finally Mr. Noten got to what apparently was my best friend's name: "Alexis McCain?"

"Here," she -- Alexis -- called.

Guy just stood there staring at us.

"HERE!" she practically yelled, and I couldn't help laughing. The rest of the class was cracking up too.

"Lauren Martinez?" he asked next, and no one said anything. Finally Alexis nudged me and I realized that was me. Heh. _Oops_.

"Here," I said.

The whole day (Geometry, Spanish, Art, Science, English, American History) went by as I felt just as if I were on vacation, taking a break from my normal life. I didn't feel paranoid, or scared, or under any pressure once during the day.

Basically I copied whatever Alexis was doing. Not her actual work, of course, because that's low. Pretty much I just got by on that, not knowing or caring if I was right or wrong.

The reason I didn't care was because I still viewed the whole thing as an experiment. I was just getting a taste of normal life.

But I won't lie to you: I liked it. I liked it a lot.


	4. Conundrum

**04. Conundrum**

* * *

I can describe school to you in one word: useless. I could do so before this little excursion too. Who cares if you can't end a sentence with a preposition? But I didn't hate it, as I had in Virginia. That's because here, I was just like everyone else, whereas over there I'd still been a freak, just trying to hide it. Here I didn't have anything to hide, anything to worry about.

It was so darn peaceful...

Anyway, back to the "school is useless" part. You know why I think this; my opinion did not waver based on the day's classes. Hmm, let's do the one word thing again.

Geometry -- pointless. Spanish -- incoherent. Art -- ridiculous. Science -- dumb. English -- stupid. History -- loooooong.

There. Got that covered. The classes, despite being boring and all, were kind of fun with Alexis. She was really cool, funny, sarcastic -- we really were a nice duo. And at lunch, I met her -- sorry, _our_ other friends.

As Alexis and I were walking to the cafeteria from Science, a short, black-haired girl came up to us and said, "Hey! You guys wanna get in line?"

"Yeah," Alexis answered absently and started walking with the girl. I followed, guessing that this was probably one of our friends. She seemed really optimistic and cheerful, though. Oh well.

When we got up to the counter to get our food, I kinda semi-panicked because I didn't have any money (but only semi. You know me; calm, cool, and collected!) but Alexis loaned me some. God. It must be great to have a friend who you just... I can't explain it. It just felt great, believe me.

Anyway, Alexis, the brunette, and I carried our trays to a table in the middle of the room where three other girls and a guy were sitting. We sat down, and I started acting again. That was getting way easier... practice makes perfect! "Hey," I said as I sat down.

"Hey," they all said back. Then one of the girls who'd already been sitting asked, "You guys take the test in Howell?" She had perfect blonde hair and a kind smile. I am just the _best_ judge of character, aren't I?

I tried to remember... oh yeah. Howell. Science. I'd just been there. Duh? But before I could say anything, she said, "Oh yeah, Michelle, you don't have Howell... how was the genius class today?"

"It was fine, Emma," said the brunette, who I now knew was Michelle. "The bitterness at not being accepted still there, huh?" She grinned at Emma.

The girl next to Emma -- a dirty blonde with green eyes -- said, "Maybe Maddie can fix it. Psychiatrist in the making, right?"

The other girl next to her grumbled, "That's the last time I ever interpret one of your dreams, Kel."

Alexis and I laughed, and the boy said, "Care to share the dream?" I don't know how, but I could tell he and Emma were together. Maybe it was the way she laughed hysterically at this joke, even though it pretty much lacked humor.

"Yeah. In it, I beat you up," Kel replied, and this got some real laughter.

"Aw, I'm sure that was very hard," Emma cooed, rubbing the boy's shoulder. To us she mouthed: _Sarcasm_! and we all cracked up again.

* * *

The rest of the day carried on in this fashion, and I liked all my friends, even the guy, Mark, and they all seemed to like me. During the course of the day I'd learned enough about the school and life (deep, mon, I know) to carry out conversations with them.

Luckily Amy and Jason weren't in any of my classes, and it wasn't till I'd said goodbye to Alexis and was standing in the bus line next to Ella that I saw them again.

"Lauren!" Amy called immediately. "Where did you go this morning? I waited for you by, like, the lockers for, like, five hours!"

"So you're probably done about now," I said and got on the bus before she had time to work out what I'd said.

None of my friends rode my bus, except for Maddie, who only did so in the afternoon. I sat down next to her, took off my backpack, and said, "Had to lose Amy."

"Oh, yeah." She grinned. "It's a lifestyle."

"It is now."

Conversation carried Maddie and me to mine and Ella's stop, and I waved goodbye to her as I got off. To Ella, when we'd stepped off the bus, I said, "Run!"

And we did.

Mom was there when we entered the house, reading a book. "How was school?" she asked when we entered.

"Great!" Ella exclaimed. "You-know-who asked me out, just like you said he would."

I bit back a retort of "Voldemort?" only because Mom and Ella looked so happy. Normally I would, cuz I'm just witty like that. But evidently they'd wanted this for a long time.

As Ella danced off to her room, Mom asked me, "So, nothing's happened with this Jason yet, right?"

I made a genuine disgusted face. "God, no! Please. I'd rather jump off a cliff than go out with him."

Did you catch my joke there? I'm just so -- okay, I'll stop.

Mom looked relieved. "Good. I hate that whole family, though if you ask me I'll deny it." I laughed. "Do you have any homework?"

"Um, no," I said since I didn't feel like doing it.

"Okay. Dinner at five."

"Great," I said and went into my room.

Once there, I sat down on the bed, thought about the day.

And felt like the worst person in the world.

What was I doing abandoning everything I'd once known, just to be normal? Just getting out of my _bad life_?

Ugh. And in doing so, I was giving up, basically. I did NOT do that.

All right. So maybe I was being too hard on myself. I was just normal... didn't most people just get that, given, no questions asked? It had been nice. I had cool friends, nice stuff... a comfy lifestyle.

On the other hand, I _wasn't_ normal, and in reality I never would be. I should just accept it, rather than wish to be different.

On the same hand, there was another huge thing I'd been forgetting. A _mucho importante_ thing.

The flock.

How could it be life if I didn't know them? How could I live without my reason to? Even as cool as Alexis, Emma, Maddie, and everybody had been, they could never live up.

So I had two opinions here, both of them my own, and I was arguing with myself to pick one. Did that mean I was insane?

Huh. I smirked. Maybe not so different from normal after all.

And I did still have a voice in my head... But before I could even begin to figure this all out, I heard a pretty loud yell.

"Oh my God!"


	5. Surprising Broadcast

**05. Surprising Broadcast**

* * *

Fang leaned back in his chair, sighing. He didn't know what was going on, but a part of him wasn't surprised. After all the whitecoats had put them through, this could just be construed as some new, fresh hell.

It was an odd take on the word "hell," though -- being normal. No wings, no seriously messed-up genetic makeup, nothing like that. A house. School, which sucked, pretty much because he sucked at it. Friends, even a girlfriend (he'd smirked every time he'd seen "Staci", knowing how much Max would hate her). Parents. Well, a mom. Apparently he didn't have a dad. His mom was great, a lot like him. She didn't need to talk about everything, sharing her feelings on every little detail.

The part that wasn't surprised was pretty overshadowed, almost eclipsed by the part that wanted to get the heck out of there ASAP. Because much as he didn't show it, Fang really did need the others, every one of them. That, plus the possibility that this really wasn't just another one of Max's tests, equaled a pretty strong desperation to get out of there.

Fang resisted an urge to sigh again and turned on the TV in the corner. It switched on to a news channel; before he could change the channel, something caught his eye.

The Itex logo.

It was printed on the t-shirt of someone who was talking to a reporter. Fang, suspicious, turned up the volume to hear better.

"... and with any luck, they will be smarter, stronger, and altogether superior to any existing human," the Itex guy was saying. A caption underneath him read "Jack Wilson."

Fang frowned and kept listening. "They're currently being held in Hartford, Connecticut, where they are undergoing tests to see just how agile they are, and we are helping them achieve the maximum effects of their powers."

If this had surprised Fang, nothing could prepare him for what came next.

The overly enthusiastic reporter then announced that they were going to show a picture of whatever Itex guy had been talking about. Next, an image that tugged at his heartstrings filled the screen: kids. With wings. In cages.

"NICK!" came a voice from outside the door. Fang almost groaned when he realized that it came from his cousin Jason, who'd come over after he was done with school. Both he and his sister Amy were arrogant and annoying.

"Uh-huh," he answered noncommittally.

"Dinner."

* * *

At dinner, Fang didn't talk much -- not unusual for him, but he wasn't fond of the reason. His mind felt like it was on overdrive, what with his sudden plunge into normalcy and the shock of what he had seen on TV. Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to stay quiet with Amy and Jason.

"You know, Nick, maybe Lauren would like _you_," said Amy. "I could see, because she seems really, like, _not_ interested in _you_, Jason."

"Doesn't know what she's missing," Jason muttered, looking honestly angry.

"So, Nick? Lauren?" Amy persisted.

Once again, Fang felt like groaning. Who cared about this Lauren? He wasn't planning on being stuck here much longer. He continued thinking about things that mattered, like Itex, the winged kids, everything he'd seen on the news.

"I don't know her," he simply said, hoping Amy would drop it. He couldn't care less about her, or Jason, or even his mom for the moment -- all that mattered was Itex.

_No such luck._ "Oh, yeah, you don't go to our school. I, like, totally forgot! But anyway, Lauren Martinez. She's, like, probably the prettiest girl at _our_ school. Jason likes her, but she could, like, care less about him. So are you interested? I think you guys would be, like, perfect for each other!"

But Fang didn't respond. _Martinez_... that was Max's mom's last name. Could that be Max? _Lauren?_ It would be amazing if he'd found her. They could look into... well, everything. Find the others.

"You know, Amy," he said, looking straight at her. "You can go right ahead and set that up."


	6. Ari

**06. Ari**

* * *

I immediately recognized the voice as Mom's and ran into the kitchen to where she was. Ella did the same.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She looked fine, she was just looking at the calendar with her hand over her mouth.

"Ella..." she finally managed to choke out, "what day is it?"

"Um, the twenty-third, right?" Ella said. After a moment, her expression became as horrified as Mom's, and I felt like I was missing something.

"Jane and Ari... tomorrow... oh, God. I completely forgot!" my mom exclaimed.

_Ari._ The name still cut through my emotions like a knife, and I felt sad and cold, even though I didn't have any reason to. This was reality. Ari hadn't been experimented on. So he should just be a cute, normal, seven-year-old kid, right?

Apparently wrong. Mom and Ella looked like they'd lost all their money or something; just like this was the worst thing that could possibly happen. I tried to look like that too, but I'm pretty sure I failed.

Mom sat down at the table, rubbing her forehead and looking troubled.

"What are we going to do?" Ella asked, sounding desperate.

"I guess we'll be on good behavior. No matter how terrible that little -- er -- _kid_ is."

Ella groaned. I felt I had to say something, so I said, "Well, maybe he's matured."

Ella rolled her eyes. "You're just sticking up for him because he's your brother. You know you hate him too."

"Ella," Mom frowned slightly, "'hate' is a strong word."

"I know! That's why I used it!"

I smiled. "You're right," I said, even though I couldn't agree less. "But we should at least give him a chance, right? I mean... you never know?"

"You're right." Mom sighed again. She looked at me. "Are you feeling okay, Lauren?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Of course I am."

"Okay. You've just seemed... different today. Go to bed earlier tonight. Anyway, dinner'll be ready in about ten minutes, so get ready."

So I did.

* * *

I tried as hard as I could to act "normal" for the rest of the day, but it didn't work out too well. Thoughts of the flock, Ari, The School, and the Voice kept popping into my head and refusing to leave.

At night I was free to really think. I tried to contact Jeb, but he didn't answer.

I was leaning towards trying to find the others but had no idea how to do it; and besides, I wanted to see why Ari was apparently so bad. He should be fine... he'd grown up normal, right?

Oh, wait. He hadn't. What had Jeb said earlier? My life is too dangerous to include you... and Ari? I don't have a mother...

That must be why he was a brat; he'd grown up without parents! Who was Jane, though? Guess I'd find out.

That brought me to another thing that had been bugging me. Why had Jeb and my mom been in a relationship?

I didn't come up with any brilliant ideas, so finally I just surrendered to exhaustion and fell asleep.

Mom took the entire day off tomorrow to prepare for Ari's visit, and I begged her, with Ella's help, to drive us to school. I didn't have the energy or patience to deal with Amy or Jason, now that I needed to figure out a way to find my real family and get out of this -- sigh -- wonderful life that just wasn't meant for me.

But before I could do that, I had to get through the school day, and then Ari's visit.

"Fine," Mom gave in, "but I'm only doing it because you were starting to sound a little pathetic. Grab your backpack. And your sister," she added, frowning. Ella had been annoying us all day with talk of her Voldemort Date, which was this weekend.

"You sure you want that?" I joked, and Mom and I both laughed. She was still amazingly great, the best mom ever -- not that I had much to compare her to -- and it hurt my heart to think of leaving her.

But life's full of nasty, cruel, annoying things that you don't want but have to do. Which, come to think of it, kind of explains my whole existence.

Anyway.

Mom dropped me and Ella off at school and went off to the store to buy things she needed for dinner.

Alexis met me at the door. "Hey, how are you?" she asked, looking sympathetic. "I know it's the twenty-fourth."

God. Did everyone know more about my life than I did? "Uh, I'll be fine," I said, with a half-smile.

"LAUREN!" came the worst possible voice ever. Amy. I didn't even have time to run away. Alexis had a grimace on her face, and I assumed my expression was the same. Call it a hunch.

"Lauren! I've been trying to find you for, like, ever," Amy panted, catching up to me. "Why weren't you on the bus this morning?"

"My--"

But she cut me off. "Whatever. This is, like, so much more important. I know and I've, like, accepted that you don't like Jason, so I've, like, taken it upon myself to find you someone else! My cousin, Nick! I've been thinking--"

"_Really_?" Alexis whispered, and I tried not to laugh.

"--and I have come to the conclusion that he's, like, meant for you! Like, you remember on the last episode of 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' where she and Harvey have these, like, 'soul stones' or whatever, and they fit, like, perfectly together? That's you and my cousin. No joke."

You'd expect someone to be out of breath after this, but Amy was breathing evenly, as though she did this all the time.

I was weary. "Um -- and your point here is?"

Amy pouted. Seriously. "My point is that you guys should honestly meet!" she enlightened me. "He lives only, like, 60 miles away but he goes to a different school. He's coming over for dinner today -- you wanna meet him?"

"Um," I began oh-so-eloquently, "I don't know him."

Amy grinned. This could mean nothing good... "Oh my God! That's, like, exactly what he said too! Well, if you won't meet him," she continued, "I'll just have to bring him over to your house tonight. Then you can, like... _talk_." You can guess how she said that last word. It made me sick.

Anyway, she walked away before I could protest. I was, for the first time, beginning to _not_ dread leaving this: I certainly couldn't deal with Amy every day.

"Good luck," Alexis muttered, and when I looked at her some of the aforementioned feeling vanished. She was great. It was like I was Rachel and she was Monica or something. Or Phoebe. Whatever. My point is, we seemed to be always there for each other.

There's nothing important enough to share about the rest of the day. It was just another boring, excrutiatingly painful day of learning that us kids get subjected to much too often. Same-old, same-old.

I had to ride the bus home, but managed to skillfully avoid both Amy and Jason by sitting with Maddie and Ella. It was crowded, yeah, and of course Ella was angry she couldn't write love notes to Voldemort in that notebook of hers, but still, it was better than listening to Amy babble on "for, like, ever".

When we went inside, Mom was going crazy cooking for Ari's visit. Somehow this reminded me that I hadn't heard from the Voice lately. Hmm. I'd really been wanting to ask why Jeb and Mom were in a relationship.

"You need help?" I asked Mom, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, yes!"

I knew it.

* * *

After hours of cooking (which wasn't that bad, actually, to my surprise), at 7:00, finally the bell rang. I was kind of nervous to see Ari, though I didn't believe that he was actually that bad.

"Hello!" I heard my mom say as she opened the door. It sounded totally fake; I smiled a bit as I walked into the living room.

Standing there was a gray-haired woman who even looked like a nanny. She had her hand on the shoulder of the cutest little seven-year-old boy I have ever seen. Not that I'm biased because of his relation to me. Not at all.

Not only was he cute, he was sad. In fact, he looked so desolate it broke my heart.

This seemed to puzzle Mom and Ella, too, and Mom sounded slightly confused as she said, "Well... come in, will you?"

They did. The nanny -- Jane, obviously -- took Ari's jacket and her shawl and handed them to Mom. I noticed that Ari was holding something in his right hand, but couldn't quite make out what it was.

Motioning, Mom began, "The dining room's through here, if you remem--"

"Max?" Ari interrupted her, and I was so startled to hear my real name that I looked immediately at him. Everyone else's eyes widened. "I need to talk to you."

I was so shocked I felt numb as I said, "Um… okay."

We walked to my room. I didn't even bother to make some sort of explanatory gesture to Mom or Ella. Honestly, they didn't need to know.

When we reached my room, he sat on the bed and I closed the door. Finally he asked, "What's going on?"

I sighed. "I made a wish," I explained, "and typical brilliant, right-on-the-nose whitecoat technology brought us here. The thing is," I continued, talking fast now that I was in uncomfortable territory, "you're… dead. And now you're… not."

_Note to self: Never become a public speaker._

He nodded, my heart broke all over again, etc. "Yeah," he finally said, "yeah. But this… well… it won't last long, will it?"

I didn't look at him as I answered, "I'm… kind of hoping that it won't. So you'll… die again. I guess."

He nodded once more. "Okay."

I didn't want to discuss this any further, and I couldn't promise to save him because – I just couldn't. I knew I couldn't. So I settled on, "'Again'. Hmm. Is this a hobby of yours, coming back from the dead?"

This got a little smile out of him, and I knew I'd done all I could. "So what's that?" I asked, indicating toward the thing he held in his hand.

He unclenched his fist and showed me: it was a tape.

"Jane tapes the news every day," Ari said. "I saw this when I was rewinding the tape for her, and I knew you'd want to see it."

I got up and put it into the VCR, feeling a little weird. What could it be?

I'll never forget what it showed me.

Kids. With wings. In cages.

It was like my worst nightmare, all over again. Except worse, because of two things: first, it was my fault that this was happening to those kids. I should have known – if we were normal, naturally those Itex jerks would pick on someone else. As long as they got their experiments, of course it didn't matter who they used, right?

Second, because once again, I had a mission, on top of everything else. I had to find the flock and, somehow, take those kids' places.

If you're wondering 'Why the heck would you do that?' then obviously you don't know me that well.

**

* * *

**

Author's Note:

I'd like to thank **redfeatherz** for the original Ari idea!


	7. Reunited

**07. Reunited**

* * *

The rest of the dinner passed pretty uneventfully, or at least as uneventful as a room full of people who are more confused then ever _can _be.

No one had asked why Ari and I had had our little talk in my room, but I was sure it was just a matter of time. Humans, I've observed, are very nosy. Probably the second our guests were gone, Mom and Ella would jump on me and ask ten million questions.

Unfortunately for them, I both couldn't and wouldn't tell them anything.

Anyway, we ate in silence until suddenly the doorbell rang. It came to me quickly -- Amy was bringing over her stupid cousin who was apparently "my other half".

Like, I'm so sure.

Back in reality, I hastily said, "I'll get that!" and then, with more grace, "It's, uh, it's for me."

I almost laughed as I got the door. Course, when I'd opened it, my laughter died in my throat.

I could hear Amy giving her come-to-be-expected "_Lauren_!" but wasn't looking at her.

Standing right behind her... _was Fang._

Too many things went through my head at once: what was he doing here? Had he found out anything about... anything? Stuff like that, and then, out of nowhere: was he _really_ related to Amy and Jason? I also had an impulse to hug him, but I let _that _pass. No need to get Amy more excited than she already was.

His eyes widened only the slightest bit as he saw me, but I'm sure my shock was evident on my face.

Amy seemed to take this the wrong way. "_I know_!" she gushed. "Aren't you guys, like, _perfect_? I _knew_ this would work out, I just KNEW it!" She grinned so big that I thought her face would break in two. And, yeah, I kind of hoped it would too.

I tried to play along. "Um, yeah, sure. Could you, uh... leave us alone for... a bit?"

Subtlety really isn't my thing.

Amy didn't care. "Oh, like, sure!" she said cheerfully, and skipped off. I could have sworn I heard her humming _I Will Always Love You_ as she went.

Forgetting about her for now, I turned to Fang. His slight shock had faded now, and he looked as impassive as ever.

"You're related to her?" I asked. _Oops. _That was _not_ what I had meant to say.

"I guess she's my cousin," he said back, "but the 'related' part would depend on your definition of the word."

"Did she set this up for you too?" I asked.

"When she said your last name I figured it was you," he answered. Then he raised a dark eyebrow and added, "_Lauren_."

"Shut up."

"Nothing wrong with it. It could be worse. In fact, not so bad."

_Oh no_. Was he being forward again? I couldn't deal with that. "Oh, really?" I asked nastily. "Better than 'Claw' or 'Skull'?"

"Well, no, of course not," Fang said, and we were back to normal. Thank God.

"Anyway," I continued, shrugging it off, "have you found out anything?"

"Saw this broadcast on TV that showed..."

"... kids like us being held in cages? Yeah, I saw that too. So of course now we have to..."

But he cut me off again. "... take their places?" he asked dully.

God. That wasn't even what I had been going to say and he knew it. Maybe I should work harder at trying not to be an open book.

I glared. "Not what I was going to say, but eventually, yes," I said defiantly. "Got a problem with that?"

"No. I mean, I know I could never talk you out of it," he answered.

I looked at him. "Would you want to?" I asked. "Talk me out of it, that is? Contradict me?"

"No, because A, I don't have a death wish, and B, I have to admit that you're right," said Fang calmly. "We do have to do this. We were destined to be freaks. So what first? Find the others?"

I was really happy that he'd agreed with me -- it seemed like maybe we were on the same page again. I didn't voice it, though. No, instead I just said, sarcastically, "Okay, so now's the time you spontaneously combust from talking so much."

There was a pause. He kept looking at me, facial expression unchanged. After a while he asked, "So what are you gonna tell your mom?"

"Oh, crap!" I said, remembering. "I'd forgotten about that. I don't think there's anything I _could_ say to her. I don't want her to go crazy worrying, but then, we don't have a plan anyway..." I trailed off, thinking.

"I've been thinking about that," Fang said, cutting across my thoughts. "Maybe this is another one of your 'tests'... you know, the ones Jeb keeps giving you? It was luck that brought you and me back together. Maybe it'll work out the same way with the others."

"Yes, but then what?" I asked wearily. "And I don't know if it's a test. I..." _was being ridiculous and made a stupid wish on a star_? "... made a wish. That we could be... normal. Apparently it affected Ari too." (I avoided his eyes as I mentioned Ari's name.) "The next morning it, um -- came true. But surprisingly," I continued, talking fast as if that would cause my embarassment to go down, "I still have my Voice -- or, _Jeb_, I guess. He told me they'd used their technology -- kind of like the stuff where they lied and said that everything from the last couple months had been a dream? -- to send us here. I haven't heard from him since that first day, so I don't know whether it's a test or not."

It didn't help my embarassment a bit, and it was a pretty Nudge-like little speech I'd made. Fang didn't reply right away but let a tiny smile creep slowly across his face. Finally he said slyly, "Exactly how many Disney movies did you watch at your mom's house?"

It was only because I was breathless from his smile that I didn't beat him up right then and there. I mean, _honestly_! I spill my guts about what's going on and all he can say in response is some lame joke about wishing on a star? Which I had _only done_, by the way, because I was--

"LAUREN!" I heard someone call, and braced myself for Amy.

But it was Mom, who'd opened the door and was looking at me funny. I guess she saw _Nick_ looking at me smugly and was wondering what the heck was going on.

"I had to meet my lab partner," I invented wildly, seeing Fang react from the irony of it and trying not to laugh about it myself.

"Well, Jane and Ari" -- I could sense Fang recoil slightly at the name -- "are leaving, and you need to come say goodbye," Mom insisted. I made an 'I-Have-No-Choice' face to Fang and followed.

"He's your lab partner?" Mom asked me in a weird voice as we came inside.

"Um, yeah," I said. "Why?"

"Well, I just remembered that when I was growing up and I was caught talking to a boy that good-looking, I _always_ used the phrase 'lab partner' as an excuse."

"It's -- it's not like that," I assured her, knowing that the blush that was certainly turning my cheeks red was not helping my case. There was that 'me and Fang' thing again! Couldn't people just give it a rest? "We're just friends, okay? Good friends."

"You know, Lauren, it _is_ possible to fall for your--"

"Okay!" I said suddenly as Jane and Ari entered the room, putting on their coats. Mom jumped. "Bye, guys! Hope you had a good time!"

"Have a good day," said Jane. She had a British accent: surprise, surprise. "We'll see you on the twenty-fourth of next month. Now, Ari, what do we say?"

"Thanks for dinner," he said sweetly, with an adorable seven-year-old smile. I saw Mom's and Ella's eyes widen again and winked at him. "Bye, Max."

"Why did he keep calling you that?" Ella asked, looking confused, when they'd left. "Who's Max? Isn't that a guy's name?"

_Hmmph_. "It's an inside joke," I told her, "and Max can be either a girl's _or _a guy's name, thank you very much."

Mom gave me a warning look and yawned. "Well, I'm going to bed," she announced. "Lauren, don't stay up too late."

I remembered Fang still outside and assured her that I wouldn't. But underneath it all I knew that there was a chance I'd never come back in again.

* * *

I stepped outside into the growing darkness and saw Fang still standing in the driveway, looking as though he had been formed out of the blackness.

"Hey," I said quietly, trying _not _to be awkward, trying _not_ to think about what Mom had said -- which, I admit, I had been thinking about a lot lately...

He raised an eyebrow. "You tell her?"

I sighed. "No," I admitted. "I couldn't think how to. Did you -- did you tell anyone?"

I knew at once that it was a stupid question. Um, this was _Fang_?

"Oh yeah," he said, voice inflection: none, "Amy and Jason are so worried they don't know what to do with themselves."

"Would you _stop _answering me like that?" I asked angrily, taking a moment to clear my head. "Okay, I need to come up with something to tell my mom..."

"Max," Fang said, voice surprisingly gentle, "I really think it's better if you don't tell her at all. Sure she'll worry, but this isn't your real life anyway. You know that. So what does it matter what the heck you do?"

I considered it. "I guess you're right. We should just... just go. But where are we going? How're we going to find the flock?"

"First things first," Fang began, "do you have a computer? Laptop, preferrably?"

I stared at him. "You don't have a blog here too, do you?" I demanded. Oh, wonderful! Instead of FANGirls we can have NICKgirls! Sounds great, right?

Um, how about no? And I _wasn't _jealous, so don't even think it. He could have as many girls in love with him as he wanted, _I _wasn't going to object. In fact, I--

"So?" he asked, once again bringing me back from my thoughts. "Laptop?"

"I have a computer," I said back, rolling my eyes, "but I could go in and check for a laptop."

"I'll come."

I snorted. "Oh, you were serious?" I asked when he glared. "Do you _know_ what Mom would say if she saw -- she already thinks I --" I stopped, realizing I was in those dangerous waters again.

An eyebrow rose _again _and I could -- _again_ -- feel myself blush. "What would she say, exactly?"

"You _know_!" I said, angry, but glad he'd ignored my second comment. I started to walk toward the door and opened it.

"Course I do. I just wouldn't mind hearing you say it."

"Be quiet!" I warned him as I led him to my room. Another useless statement.

"Look who you're talking to," Fang said as we entered my room. He leaned against the wall with the desk.

I searched for an old laptop or something while Fang looked around. "So this is Lauren, huh?" He smirked. "What, no High School Musical posters?"

"Would you _shut up_ for a minute? God! Whenever you actually _should_ talk, not a word, but when I'd rather you stayed -- Hang on," I frowned, looking at a spot on my desk where a shiny new laptop now lay. "Was that always there?"

"Didn't see it earlier," said Fang slowly.

"But it couldn't have just... just _appeared_... could it?" I wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Max, you really need to talk to your Voice," said Fang, looking perhaps a bit... concerned? Great. _Just_ what I needed.

"Yeah, I do!" I said in total exasperation. "But the trouble is, I don't have any freaking _control _over when he's there and when he's not..."

_Hello, Max._

I stopped dead in my tracks -- not that I had been going anywhere -- and marveled at what _amazing _timing this man had.

Fang must have noticed, because he said, "What? Voice pop in?"

I think he was kidding about that, but nonetheless I nodded and thought back, _What fantastic timing you have._

_I'm sorry, Max_, said the Voice, _I had some things to take care of. I'm back now._

Hmm. Wonderful. _Okay, then. Well, I have about fifty questions to start, if you wouldn't mind_.

The 'if you wouldn't mind' was a formality, of course. I could care less if he minded.

_First of all, is this a test? I know _you _sent us here, and that equals suspicion._

There was a pause. Then came a simple _Yes._

I looked at Fang and mouthed "test" to him. He looked mildly pleased with himself.

_Elaborate?_

_Sorry, Max, but I can't do that_, Jeb said. _It's your test. And, if I'm not mistaken, you stil have 49 more questions to go, so... ask away._

_Why were you and my mom in a relationship?_

Another pause. Then:

_Well, I'm your father._

_I know._

He continued, _And Dr. Martinez is your mother._

_Wait_, I thought, processing, _have you been... are you... in love with her?_

Believe it or not, yet another pause followed this. Then a lone _Yes._

I didn't press on.

_You had to exist somehow_, he finally explained, _and even if you hadn't been meant as an experiment, apparently your mother and I would still have had you._

_Whose idea was 'Lauren'? _I asked.

_Mine, _Jeb said simply. _Your mother would rather have named you something a bit more Hispanic, but I've always liked the name Lauren._

I reflexively looked over at Fang and met his eyes. I could see concern amidst all of the black, and looked away as quickly as I could.

_Anyway_, I changed the subject, not wanting to bring up the fact that he'd left her, _where are the rest of us? How do I find them?_

_That is part of your test._

Fantastic. _Why could I find Fang so easily, then?_ I wondered.

_You seem to accomplish more when he's with you. I didn't want to give you a hopeless mission._

I couldn't deny it -- look at our recent separation. I'd been miserable. But I didn't meet Fang's eyes again. There was something there with which I was unfamiliar and not entirely comfortable.

I guess that's it. Oh, wait -- where did that laptop come from?

He replied, _Consider it a gift. Just use it well -- it just might help._

And then he was gone.


	8. Back on Track

**08. Back on Track**

* * *

I tried to contact the voice again, but of course it wouldn't come back. Typical. After I explained to Fang what had happened, I caught sight of a clock and semi-panicked: it was 12:30.

"Shoot. What do we do now? It's really late," I said. "Do you have _any_ idea of where to go? Because I'm at a loss. Should we leave Mom's, or --"

I stopped when I noticed him giving me the look usually used to tell Nudge to shut up. "Before anything else," he said, "I want to take a look at your mom's home office."

I immediately understood why. "You mean... those books?"

He nodded. "I just want to see if they're real."

"But if they are, wouldn't that mean ..." I stopped. No -- Mom couldn't have anything to do with was going on in Connecticut... could she?

"Anything's possible," Fang finished darkly.

I bit my lip. "Fine, let's go look... oh, wait your laptop."

"How did that get here, anyway?" he asked as he flipped it open. The screen was glowing bright, open on a Microsoft homepage. A couple ads popped up, but I ignored them.

"Come on," I urged, desperate to be doing _something_. "Let's look for the book, if we must, and then get out of here. Here," I picked up my backpack from my desk and put the laptop in it, "good? We can worry about the computer later. Come on!"

We walked silently out into the hall, looking for the office. When we found it I shut the door and then turned the light on, hoping to hope that Mom wouldn't catch us. I mean -- what would I say?

Fang had found the books. "Here we are," he said quietly, looking through the pages. "Right where I found them back in reality. _Recombinant DNA Theory _and the very cleverly named _Birds_."

This was shocking, but -- "_Birds?_" I snickered. "It's called _Birds_?"

I got a dry look. "Is that really important right now?"

"My line!" I said. "Anyway, fine," I continued, "we really need to go. I think --"

But then my heart stopped._ I heard footsteps._ Oh, God --

I turned around to tell Fang to hide, but when I looked he wasn't even there. _Phew_. Always a step ahead.

I put down the book, trying to look normal, you know, like, _Yeah, so I just got the urge to read books about DNA splicing at one in the morning. Big deal. _Okay, so as normal as I could make that.

The footsteps came closer, until finally they must have deected the source of the light and the door opened. Ella stood there.

"Lauren?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I need a book for science," I said evenly, hoping I sounded convincing.

"Oh. Hang on, you can't use that one, though," Ella said, pointing at _Recombinant DNA Theory_.

"Why?" I asked, wary.

"Um, because it's Mom's prized possession?" Ella said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You _know _that! Where have you _been_ lately, honestly, you don't even seem like yourself..."

But I interrupted. "Why is this her prized possession?" I asked, hoping she was being sarcastic.

She wasn't. She opened the book and showed me a note in the front, written in handwriting so neat that it looked like it had been typed:

_To Val--_

_Congatulations on opening the new practice! We all knew you could do it._

_Anyway, I'm not doing too badly myself; here's an advance copy of that book I've been talking your ear off about!_

_--Jack_

Jack. The name meant something... I just couldn't remember what. I looked at Ella, really, really, _really_ hoping she would take the hint I was about to give her.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, blanked out. See you in the morning."

Ella left, looking slightly confused, and when I heard her light click off Fang appeared again.

"Who's Jack?" were my first words.

"Jack Wilson. From the news broadcast. Guess he wrote this book too."

_Jack Wilson_! Right. "That Jack. Okay. I knew that. Now... we seriously need to get out of here."

"It's the dead of night. We should just go back home, stay the night, then cut school and split," Fang pointed out reasonably.

"I guess," I sighed. "Don't you 'live' like 60 miles away?"

"I'll just spend the night with my wonderful cousins."

* * *

I think it was about three in the morning when I finally fell asleep. I was _not _happy about our leaving being put off again, and worried about leaving here without letting Mom see.

However, sleep I did, and morning came soon after that.

_I've been driving for an hour_

_Just talking to the rain_

_You say I've been driving you crazy_

_And it's keeping you awake_

_So just give me one good reason--_

I shut the alarm off, realizing something: I couldn't fly. Alright, I know it's really weird to actually _forget_ something like that, but I'd had so much else on my mind!

Anyway, I got dressed, hoping Fang had come up with something. Not that I couldn't make up a plan on my own in, like, three seconds.

I had thought about it and decided to get on the bus, not let Mom or Ella suspect anything, and run when I got to school. The teachers would call her, of course, but that couldn't matter less.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. I of course was immersed in my own thoughts, Ella was probably still confused about last night, and Mom's eyes kept switching from mine to hers suspiciously.

The bus stop was even a bit quieter than usual, because I just let Amy chatter on and on about nail polish or whatever the heck she was talking about until finally she asked me a question. It was the last time I'd ever see her. I listened.

"Oh, my gosh, I almost forgot about you and my cousin! What'd you think of him?"

"He's okay, I guess."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. Like I'm going to believe _that_. I mean, he didn't come home till, like, two o'clock at night. Explain!"

Luckily, I was saved from answering her extremely well-thought out question involving two o'clock _at night_ by Jason's voice.

"Look, I'm not gonna take this," he was saying to the "nerd," Marta. "I need the answers."

"Wow, Jason," I said in mock astonishment. "I never pegged you for the philosophical type." I met Marta's eyes and we grinned.

Jason looked shocked. "You're on _her_ side? Fine. Explain how I was doing something wrong."

_Wow_. "You're seriously as stupid as you look?" I asked. "You're making her give you the answers to a homework assignment! Last time I checked, cheating wasn't a virtue."

"_Cheating_? I'm doing her a favor. She lives for homework, right? I don't. It's a preference."

"I would say that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, but I wanna wait to hear what you say next," I retorted; everyone except Jason and Amy laughed. "You're right, it's a preference. But it's not her only personality trait, and maybe if you weren't such a _jerk_, you'd try to get to know her!"

Jason's mouth fell open. Apparently the -- ahem -- "hottest girl in school" had a temper.

* * *

On the bus, I sat with Marta, and while I had to tell her a couple times to stop thanking me so much, she really was a cool person. She liked to create websites, could write the code and everything. She also hated doing homework, but wanted to get into MIT someday so figured she'd get used to it. Take _that_, Jason!

Getting off the bus, I hesitated. Making a split-second decision, I said to Marta, "Do you know Alexis McCain?"

"Um, yeah. She's pretty nice," Marta answered.

"Could you tell her that I appreciate everything she's done for me? Tell her _Lauren_ appreciates everything she's done. And the same to you. I'm _really_ sorry about this, Marta. I hope the bus stop will be better for you now."

And I took off running, not looking to see Marta's confused face, any teachers who might be following, or anyone else losing confused. I didn't look back on what could have been... what _should_ have been.

Because it pretty much doesn't exist.

* * *

I ran, ran, ran, and then ran some more, until I was on my street. Mom was most likely gone by now, so luckily I wouldn't have to worry about that.

Amy and Jason's house had a backyard with a couple of trees, and I ventured back there warily.

As was to be expected, Fang was there. I could have sighed with relief.

"Good, you're here," I said. "Now we can finally _do_ something."

He nodded, then must have seen how tired I looked because he said, "How did you get here?"

"Ran. It wasn't exactly an ideal method of transportation, but seeing as I had no alternative..." I gestured to my feet. "Anyway, anything new? How'd you get away?"

"Well, technically I wasn't supposed to sleep here tonight," Fang said. "I stayed out here, in the trees."

I snorted. "Bet _that_ brought back memories."

A side of his mouth quirked, and he said, "Speaking of which, found something last night." Fang flipped open the laptop he'd taken last night and continued, "This one's pretty cool, actually. Very handy 'Contact' feature."

"And what did you find?" I asked impatiently.

"Gazzy and Iggy."

I'm sure my facial expression resembled Jason's from earlier. "_What_? How? When? Are they all right--"

"They're fine. You know those ads that popped up yesterday? One of them was for a gaming website. It said something like, 'Challenger' and under it was a list of top scorers. _GazIg_ was number one, with 568, 215 points."

"What a brilliant username. It's like they were trying to find us," I mused.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. So I use this awesome 'Contact' feature, and it tells their stats and everything. I'm pretty sure that's illegal but," Fang shrugged, "it worked. I sent them a message through the gaming website; told them you and I had found each other and were looking for others. They replied and said to come to them."

"Where are they?" I asked.

He gave me the laptop and let me read their message, which said that they were together (Angel must be with them too), desperate, and in DC with Iggy's parents.

This was an amazing feeling. We were back on track, almost all back together -- ready for anything.


	9. Change of Pace

**09. Change of Pace**

* * *

"What the he-_eck_ happened?" Iggy asked, looking at me -- yep, actually looking at me.

I was glad he could see, but it was a little weird.

"You don't wanna know," I sighed. God, this no flying thing sucked. Let it be known that public transportation really frowns upon two 14-year-olds on their own. But we still looked mature for our age, so since they couldn't _prove_ that Fang and I weren't 18, it had worked out. But it seemed like five lifetimes before we'd arrived at Iggy's house, the one we'd nearly lost him in, back in reality. We had lied and said we were friends from school (yes, I get the irony) and his mom had let us in. She seemed nice, but then, she had last time, too, and it turned out she thought of her son as a way to make money.

But I digress.

That was Iggy's "hello" when we walked in. Gazzy grinned at me, and Angel gave me a big hug. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I hugged Angel back, thinking about how much I had missed these kids. How could I ever choose a normal life over this?

When Angel went to hug Fang, I sat down in a desk chair and asked, "So what's your story? How'd you guys end up together?"

"We go to the same school," Gazzy explained, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. "Me and Angel saw Iggy as we were walking home."

"Where do you guys 'live'?" I really made the quotes around "live," by the way.

"Orphanage," said Angel. She was trying to be strong, I could tell, but something in her huge blue eyes made me uneasy. "Our parents were neg--negilent?"

"Negligent?" I asked, and it was all I could do to not clench my hands into fists. Even normalcy wouldn't save my baby from being miserable.

"We were gonna go straight to Iggy's house, but Mrs. Miller -- she owns the orphanage -- wouldn't let us go. But we're fast, and we got away." Gazzy grinned, looking pleased with himself.

I imagined a sour-looking white-haired old lady waving a cane and trying to catch up with Gazzy and Angel, and stifled a laugh.

"So why are we _here_?" Iggy asked impatiently.

Right. The million-dollar question. Well, I was only gonna give 'em _some_ of the truth. If I thought Fang teased me badly, I shuddered to think how Iggy would react to my "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" moment.

"It's one of my tests," I lied skillfully, feeling Fang's eyes on me but not looking at him. "Have you seen that news broadcast?"

"My 'mom' did," said Iggy bitterly, also using air quotes. "I saw a bit of it."

"Does that have anything to do with your test?" asked Angel.

"Only everything," I said. This time I did meet Fang's eyes, and he gave me a look that said, _Only because you made it that way._ Well. I'm nothing if not a fantastic liar.

"So we're going to Connecticut?" asked Gazzy.

"The one and only," I said, fluffing his hair. He was so cute -- clean, with clothes that had actually been washed. Angel's curls were bouncy, and her shorts and shirt looked adorable. And Iggy could _see_. I looked around the room and spotted a pair of glasses on his desk and snorted.

He followed my gaze and rolled his eyes. "I've been wearing contacts," he said coolly, and I almost cracked up. But I didn't. Sensitivity is very important to me.

Kudos if you caught the sarcasm there. Of course, we were all cracking up, me and the Gasman in the lead.

A minute later there was a knock at the door. "James? Could you keep it down in there? I'm trying to read."

Iggy groaned loudly, sounding exactly like a normal 14-year-old boy. Not that I know many of those. "Fine!" he yelled back.

"Hormones getting to you?" I joked. He ignored me, so I went back into leader-mode. "Okay! We have a plan once more! First, we seriously need to find Nudge. Anyone have any idea how?"

Nobody did. Three hours later Angel was asleep on Iggy's bed, Iggy and Gazzy were back on the gaming website, and I was pretty tired myself.

"I guess we should just stay here tonight," I said to Fang, hoping Iggy's mom wouldn't notice.

He nodded. "Yeah. And then?"

I sighed. "I don't have a clue where to start. I haven't heard from the Voice since we were in -- since we were at my mom's house," I finished awkwardly.

"Don't you think," Fang began slowly, "that it's almost _too _weird for you to still be hearing from the Voice? We are -- supposedly -- completely normal. It doesn't fit."

I frowned, processing. "What are you getting at? You think this is a trap?"

"It could be. Which makes me think: I think we should just go to Connecticut."

"But we have to find Nudge! Don't you think --"

"If this isn't a trap, we'll get out of it, be sent back to reality -- which includes Nudge. And even if it's not, how the heck do you expect to find her?"

_I concur._ He made sense.

"You're right," I said, hating the sound of it. "We'll leave here in the morning."

I just hoped that would be enough.

* * *

When I woke up, I realized that we under the watchful eyes of _parents_, something we all were unfamiliar with. It made me think of Mom and Ella, who were probably freaked. I tried not to.

Wasn't this a school day? Maybe we could pull this off.

"Iggy? One question, and you have to answer me honestly. Does your mom have to come in and wake you up in the morning?"

"I have an alarm clock."

"We gotta get out of here," I said, half-joking, "before we're caught. Iggy, get in the bed. Look like you've been sleeping there all night."

He did, though not very willingly, I might add -- _boys_ -- and the rest of us climbed skillfully out the window. Sometimes I was surprised how much we _weren't_ different, even being normal. Acting on impulse, I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell, just like I had done when we were living with Anne.

"Hello," I said brightly when the door opened. "We're friends from school. Is... James home?"

"I'm sure he's not awake yet," said Mrs. Griffiths, rolling her eyes (_that_ reminded me of Iggy). "Would you like to come in?"

We stepped inside and sat down at the table. A box of muffins was out, and I realized I hadn't eaten in forever. Mrs. Griffiths must have noticed this, because she asked, "Would you like something to eat?"

We ended up eating pretty much all of the food she'd put out, and I saw her eyes widen. However, it didn't really matter. Nothing mattered except getting to Connecticut, and we needed fuel for that.

Finally Iggy walked out, and after he had eaten his fill too, we left.

"How are we getting to Connecticut?" Angel asked me as we walked down the sidewalk. I planned to walk us just out of Mrs. Griffiths' line of sight, then turn.

"Considering our current state, we're just going to have to use public transportation."

As you can guess, _that_ was a huge success.


	10. Everything is Not What it Seems

**10. Everything is Not What it Seems**

* * *

Please don't ask for further details on our "trip" to Connecticut. I'm still recovering. Public transportation plus us equals total boredom.

So when we _finally_ got to Hartford, it was a thrill to stretch our legs and walk.

Oh -- how did we find the money for all this, you ask? A certain Amy Simms left her wallet in plain view at the bus stop that morning... enough said. What was weird, though, was how no one questioned us, asked for ID, or anything. We were just accepted with a smile, everywhere. Weird.

"Okay, let's find a library, find this Itex," I said.

The Voice chimed in and gave us directions, and we were walking toward it when I noticed someone out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't remember where I'd seen him before, so I kept walking.

Then it hit me. "Jack Wilson!" I said suddenly, and the flock -- minus Nudge -- turned and looked at me.

"That's Jack Wilson, up there," I continued, pointing. "The guy from the TV broadcast?"

Everyone looked at him, and I made a quick decision to follow him.

"Come on," I urged. "We can end this earlier. Let's go..."

And we began running.

* * *

As they ran after Jack Wilson, who was apparently "Big Evil Itex Guy," Iggy took a moment to think. You'd think that'd be hard when you were running but, yeah -- it wasn't.

All in all, he had two views on the situation. One was good -- after all, he could _see_, for God's sake! Wasn't that all any blind person wanted, to wake up and suddenly be able to see? And no wings. While flying was awesome, being normal couldn't hurt, could it? As a whole, those all sounded great to him, enough to make him tell Max to screw the plan and let them stay here forever.

But that was the thing. It was Max's test, Max's _destiny_, all that crap. Even if Iggy had wanted to stay here in Completely Normalville, USA, he couldn't. When Max had a mission (which she always did) it was pretty much impossible to convince her otherwise.

Sometimes he got sick of all the missions, he truly did. But while it seemed that maybe being normal would be better, he didn't really want it. The stint in Virginia had taught him that. First of all, _school_? Learning? Not his thing. And his parents? He couldn't forgive them for what they... what they had _really_ done.

Basically, the point Iggy came to was to just go along with Max. It had always worked before.

* * *

We were walking down a dark alleyway, a place we knew only too well, trying to inconspicuously stalk Jack Wilson. I'd filled the others in about the book he'd written, and we were all on the lookout.

Finally the wall ended -- _huh_? -- and there was a huge mansion in front of me. And when I say huge, I mean _huge_, man. There was a swimming pool, tennis court, three expensive-looking cars in the driveway, and a couple of those stupid, slightly perverted fountains that have no point except to waste water. Nonetheless, we all stared in awe.

"Must be a Rockefeller," Fang muttered.

"Just another rich geneticist," I shrugged. "Anyway, I'm certain that if we find those caged kids and free them, my test will be over and we'll be back to normal again, somehow. And Nudge will be there, I'm sure. She's probably happy where she is, anyway." (Inwardly I hated the fact that she might be having fun somewhere else besides where she belonged.) "But it might not be too easy," I continued, "so if needed, brace yourself for a fight, okay?"

"Okay," said Angel, and everyone else nodded, looking determined.

We edged forward slowly and quietly. "Maybe we should go around here," the Gasman suggested, and it looked like a good idea, so we turned.

There was a run-down shed on the left side of the house that didn't quite fit with the lavishness of everything around it. This had to mean something.

Yep, sure enough, the kids were in there, winged and scared-looking in their cages. There were six of them, too. Coincedence? I think not.

Two of them yelped when they saw me, a girl and a boy, but the rest stayed stoic.

"Who are you?" one of them asked bravely. She was probably the leader.

"We're here to save you," I whispered, aware of how stupid it sounded. "We're not here to hurt you."

"How do we know you're not one of Them?" the girl asked back, standing her ground. "That you won't take more blood or..." her voice began to shake a little, "... or try to kill us?"

"I don't have time to explain it to you," I said impatiently. "Just come on! We can get out of here, go... somewhere, and then we'll be... then it'll all be over."

The mutants all looked scared; the leader girl looked at me, apparently unconvinced. "Again, why should we trust you? You could be --"

"_I'm not_!" I cut across angrily, losing patience fast. "_We're _not! Look. I know what it's like, to wake up totally freaked out, to feel like someone else -- a completely sick, twisted someone else -- is in charge of your life! You think you've got troubles? Well, we've got 'em too, and you're not gonna get any sympathy unless you swallow your pride and come with us _now_!"

The mutants stared in awe, and I felt a little embarassed. I really hadn't meant to say all that, it had just come out.

Finally the girl whispered in a small voice, "Okay."

We let them out of their cages and they tiptoed over to where we were. When she reached me, the leader girl asked, "How did you go through this? You look completely normal."

I almost groaned. I wasn't _this_ bad, was I? But I did need to gain their trust, so I made up a convincing lie.

"Our powers are on and off," I said. It was technically true. Right now they were just "off."

"What's your name?" asked one of the girls, speaking for the first time. She had a quiet voice and light blue eyes.

"I'm Max," I told her, not even for a moment considering saying 'Lauren.' I'd accepted my freak destiny, and in my freak destiny, I was Max.

After the rest of the flock had given her their names I asked the leader what her name was.

"I don't have one," she said slowly. "But I've been thinking about it. I want one. After all... we're people too, aren't we?"

"You have no idea how right you are," I said, grinning, "but your name should be something you pick yourself. Think about it, all of you. But for now, we need to go."

Everyone agreed, and I opened the door.

Revealing the smiling face of Jack Wilson.

* * *

"Come on, kids," he said in a greasy voice. "Kidnapping is not exactly a virtue, is it? You -- " he motioned to the mutants, "you should have warned me against this. These people are not your friends. I am your friend. Remember that."

"Seriously? You're gonna go that route? Because I can't remember the last Hallmark thank you card I saw for messing with someone's DNA," I said nastily.

"Or, like, a 'Wish You Were Here' card from a cage," said Gazzy, and I grinned at him.

Jack didn't look annoyed, just smiled even wider.

"Ah, Max. I've been waiting for you to get here."

_Wha..._ "Oh, the smoke signal? That was you?" I asked sarcastically.

"I did everything but," said Jack. "If you would like, I will explain everything.

"I do not exist in your real life. However, my good friend Marian Janssen does, as I am sure you know."

_Only too well._ I held Angel's hand tightly.

"I was actually a huge part of your creation. I had written books on the theory, even convinced your mother to trust me. But in the critical stages, years of working around dangerous substances caught up with me, and I died.

"You, apparently, did not turn out so well either. Recently, a plan was devised to get rid of you failures once and for all. This, for lack of a better phrase, is an alternate universe. You have not been experimented on. You are defenseless. I brought--"

"Wait," I interrupted. "If I'm totally normal, totally defenseless -- why do I still have a voice in my head?"

Jack grinned quite evilly again. "I've been meaning to ask -- who is your Voice?"

"You don't know?" I asked. "I guess they don't tell you _everything_, now, do they?"

The grin got bigger. "I know who it is," said Jack, as if boasting. "It's you who doesn't."

What? He had to be messing with me. The Voice was Jeb. That much had been proven. "Who is it, then?" I demanded.

"Oh, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The Voice for this whole experiment, however, has been me."

I didn't speak for a moment. Finally I managed to say, "But... you... Jeb..."

"I know you thought it was Jeb," Jack continued, "so I was him. I studied him, I became him. It was all part of my plan. The times you didn't hear from me, I was busy with the mutants.

"I tried to give you all a chance at normal life. I only kept up with you, Max, since you are the most important. Where the rest of you freaks went, I have no idea. Anyway, I hoped you would accept the normal life. And if you had, you would be free to live there forever. There would be nothing in the way of my friends' plan.You wouldn't be here, about to die."

His story was interesting, but I had to jump in somewhere. "First of all, we're _not_ about to die, and second of all, you were a freaking _idiot_ if you thought that --"

"Let me finish." Jack's tone was severe and deadly. "But you didn't accept your 'normal' life. You accepted your 'real' life. It was a flaw in the plan, I'll admit... but no matter. I solved the problem. I created these mutants, knowing you'd come and save them like the... _heroes _you are. I helped you all find each other. I helped you get here quickly and without being questioned. And here we are. I can finally dispose of you, just a little later than I would have liked."

"You might have forgotten _one little thing_," I said in a mock-baby voice. "Where's Nudge? The last member of our group. Or don't you know?"

Another evil grin. "I know exactly where she is. She's been here all the time," Jack said. "Monique!" he called loudly.

Confusion washed over me as I took in Nudge's confused expression, Jack's hand on her shoulder...

"Nudge!" Iggy exclaimed, sounding as shocked as we all felt.

"Nudge? What an _adorable_ nickname," Jack snarled. "However, I prefer to call her Monique. Max, everyone, meet Monique Wilson -- my daughter."

**

* * *

**

Author's Note:

Did _anyone_ see that coming? The title might have tipped you off... but whatever, it was the product of about two seconds' inspiration and my failure to get the "Wizards of Waverly Place" theme song out of my head. Anyway, _review _and the last chapter _(_second-to-last, if you count the epilogue) will be up soon! I finished writing the story last night, so only reviews determine when the next chapters will come up.

The Iggy's POV, I think, was needed. Think about it -- he can _see_. But I really think that after the events of book three, he'll go along with Max.

Finally, I'm using the -- SPOILER ALERT! -- fourth book evidence that Jeb is not the Voice, but don't expect any more on that. Nope, think I'll let Patterson field this one, thank you very much.


	11. The Final Battle

**11. The Final Battle**

* * *

What? _Nudge_? Related to this nutcase? It couldn't be...

She looked as stunned as I was -- as we all were -- and she actually didn't talk for a few moments, until...

"Max? What are you doing here? Da -- _he_ said that this was, like, an alternate universe, and that's why I didn't have wings anymore, and oh_, _my gosh, are those mutants? You're saving them, aren't you?"

I almost laughed, I was so happy to see her. "Nudge! It's okay. We're here, and we're gonna get out."

Although to be honest, I wasn't sure if we would or not. Now that I knew someone evil was behind it? Probably leaning towards "not."

"That's not exactly what I had in mind," said Jack, like,_ licking his lips_. It reminded me of the Erasers, of the old Ari, and I felt even more like I needed to get out of this.

"NOW!" I screamed, and all of us, Nudge and the other mutants included, took off, using the only weapon we had left -- running.

We weren't very far away when I noticed that Jack wasn't following us. That could be a problem.

"Go, hide," I whispered to the other mutants.

"Angelina," the leader girl suddenly said.

"What?"

"That's my name," said the girl, grinning. "'Cause I can fly, apparently, and even if I'm not normal, I can have a normal name, right? I mean, I'm not _totally_ different from the rest of--"

"Great. Now _go_! Anywhere! We need to take care of this!"

A couple of them opened their mouths to speak, but stopped at the look on my face. They took off running, Angelina in the lead. I wished them better luck than we usually had.

And were still having, unfortunately.

As soon as the mutants were out of the way, I saw Jack coming toward us, looking murderous.

"You let them get away!" he snarled.

"Who, them? Huh. I guess I did. Fancy that," I said.

Jack looked even madder. "You... let... them..." he stammered.

"Why am I being strongly reminded of a troll?" I asked. "And besides, I thought we were supposed to save them. Plot to get us here, etc?"

"You were supposed to _come_ save them, not actually save them! I -- had -- plans -- for -- them!" he roared.

"Whoa, anger management classes, anyone?" said Iggy.

"We could all chip in," said Angel sweetly.

"Yeah! I found a nickel on the ground back at Iggy's house," Gazzy stated.

I smiled at Jack, who was getting steadily more annoyed. "Don't worry, Jackie, we'll get you the help you need," I said.

"Stop the nonsense! Don't you understand? You are about to die! This all has been a trap!" Jack cried.

"I believe the word you used was 'test,'" I said.

"What?" asked Jack, looking confused. "I never said it was a test."

I rolled my eyes. "That's why some people tie strings around their fingers, Jackie," I said. "You _did_ tell me it was a test... around the time you gave us the laptop?"

"What? Why would I give you a laptop?"

"Um, because you _did_?" I was beginning to lose patience. "And what d'you mean, everything's been a trap?"

"That school? Those friends? Alexis McCain, Emma Sanders, Amy and Jason Simms... all implants, to help you find each other, help you adapt to a normal life. They're brilliant actors, and they fit perfectly into the plan."

I couldn't breathe. With Alexis, I'd had something new, something different but amazing -- a real, normal friendship. But that had all been a scam.

"My best part of the plan was having 'Nudge' -- Monique -- as my daughter. I don't know whether she really is, but for these purposes I had her be so.

"This didn't work out as I wanted, however. She refused to tell me anything about you or your weaknesses, or where you may be, or what you may be doing. She did not trust me, no matter how hard I tried."

I grinned at Nudge, and she grinned back at me.

"And now she can die along with the rest of you."

Well. My grin faded. "How exactly do you plan to do this?" I asked, pretending to sound interested.

"Oh, that you'll find out soon enough. But for now, I see our actors coming forth... take a bow, everyone," said Jack sickly.

You're probably wondering why I didn't just run out of there right then and there, or even before. Well, because I _didn't_. God.

Anyway, sure enough, Alexis, Amy, Jason, everyone from my lunch table, and even Marta and Daniel were marching across the grass towards us.

"Come to sign some autographs?" I asked nastily. "Because to be quite honest, we're not huge fans."

Alexis sneered, which, I will admit, really hurt. "We fooled you, Max," she said softly. "And I'm guessing that isn't easy?"

"Our parts of this were huge. Get you to like normal life, stay there," Emma continued, her waist-length blonde hair shimmering. "We entered your school. We're clones of your real friends, in case you were wondering. Normally that would offend me, but this hair? Fabulous." She smiled.

"You're not gonna start singing, are you?" I pointed to Marta, who looked stunningly beautiful and nothing like a "nerd" at all. "You -- what was your role in this?"

She smiled, you know, evilly. "Jack wanted to make sure you would come and save the mutants," she said. "So he had us -- me and Daniel -- be bullied. When you stood up for us, he was sure you'd want to stick up for anyone in trouble. Also, it made the whole thing so much more... real."

"And you?" I indicated Amy and Jason. "To show just how much two people can make another suicidal?" Sure, I was stalling for time, but it still felt good to be able to tell them how annoying they were.

"My role," said Amy, smiling, "was to bring you and 'Nick' back together. Jason was dispensable at first, but we found a use for him."

"So am I seriously related to you?" asked Fang.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Amy asked, with a sweet smile, and Fang said nothing.

"I think we've stalled long enough," said Jack, joining the Evil Smile Club himself. "Now that you know everybody, I think it's time for you to die."

"Touche!" I yelled, and we all started running.

We hadn't gotten far when Jack and his fun-loving pals caught up with us, and us non-mutants were panting. Being human took a lot outta ya. I have a new-found respect for whoever's reading this.

"Tell me one thing!" I shouted, and everyone stopped. "Tell me how you plan to kill us. I don't see anything."

"We have bombs!" said Jack impatiently. "We just need to catch you first!"

Oops.

He immediately looked horrified with himself, and we laughed. Obviously this guy was not the brightest crayon in the box.

"Alright, we gotta find those bombs!" I yelled over my shoulder as we started running again. Jack and company were close, but not quite catching up to us. Good.

"One of them probably has them," Nudge said, panting, "and that's why they needed to catch up with us!"

"Okay, turn!" And we all did.

We all approached a different person. I snuck up behind Alexis. Yeah.. we had some issues to work out.

"I want my friendship bracelet back," I said before punching her.

What? That's just how I work things out.

Once she was down, I extracted a bomb from her coat pocket. There was _that_ coat destroyed. How tragic.

Even though they were terrible, horrible people who should live out the rest of their lives in misery, I didn't want them to die.

Whoever said I was a mean person?

Anyway, I didn't want them to die, so I threw the bomb really far away. I've got a pretty good arm... for a girl.

Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and I did the same thing a couple more times, and when we had finished, Emma, Marta, Daniel, Amy, Jason, Maddie, and all my lunchtime buddies were unconscious. Our strength was weird, but useful.

I think it was then that I realized something. Look at what we'd done, even being -- completely -- human. It was not much different from normal, now, was it? Sure, we'd had to, but we always did. That didn't matter. I think I realized that it was how you chose to live your life, rather than how you're _forced_ to live it. Like, if you sit back and do nothing, or whether you take action.

My philosophical thoughts were interrupted by all of the bombs exploding, creating a sort of show. Except the kind you don't have to pay for, don't have to share with other people, and which fills you with a kind of cold satisfaction.

I glanced at Iggy, _so_ glad he could see it. No one spoke for a while, even Nudge. We all apparently had a lot on our minds.

Of course, all of our happiness was dashed in the next second but, gee, were we having _fun_!

Yeah, we had forgotten something. Something kind of important.

Mr. Jack Wilson.

He had ran and hid when we took down the others, cowardly little spineless jellyfish he was, and now he was coming toward us.

I was so _not_ in the mood for this. I really wasn't. But doing nothing wasn't an option either. See above epiphany.

"Jack. Don't look back," I whispered to the others. Hmm, it rhymed, too. What a wonderful world.

If I have to say 'We started running' one more time, I'm gonna punch something. So you can just guess what we did, okay?

Unfortunately, it really wasn't working. I was almost too tired... Jack came up behind me and stuck his foot out... He tripped me...

I fell onto the hard ground.

And, the next morning, I woke up there.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Aaaaand... we've come full circle! Review to get the final chapter and find out how they got out of it! I wasn't thrilled with the reviews last chapter, but I understand that everybody has time issues (hey, so do I!) and can't get to it right away. I just wanted to post the penultimate chapter before I leave for Chicago, which is tomorrow!

I feel I have to admit something here. I totally and completely made this (story) up as I went along. When I started this, I had absolutely no idea how to carry out the idea that I liked. So you can imagine that even though it fits well, I never intended to have an OC as the main villain. Especially one named _Jack Wilson_. Yeah, not a very evil name. But hey -- Voldemort, Hitler, and Zac Efron were all taken...


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Not That Bad_

* * *

Gosh, that just kept happening, didn't it?

I got up immediately and looked around. We were in the same place we had been when I'd made the whole stupid wish in the first place. I saw the rest of the flock getting up too and -- wow -- saw their wings. I felt mine as well and grinned. Sure, I was confused as heck on what had just happened, but my wings were back! What's that saying -- 'you don't know what you got till it's gone?' That is so true, I cannot tell you.

"Max? What's going on?" asked Nudge, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "How did we get out of that? _Jeb_?"

On her words, I noticed him coming towards us and became wary.

"I don't know -- let me talk to Jeb, okay?" The rest of the flock nodded, and he and I walked a couple feet away. It was still dark, apparently still night... it could have been five minutes after I'd made the wish.

"I need to talk to you, and I'm not talking no for an answer," I said.

There was a pause, and then --

"Well, no. You wouldn't," he said, smiling. "I figured you'd have ten million questions, which I can answer this time."

"This time?" I asked, confused. "I thought you weren't the Voice for this little experiment."

"I was once."

Okay...

"Do you remember the time you found the laptop? That was me. I just needed to do the Voice once, to tell you it was a test. When you first woke up without wings, Jack told you that it wasn't, but I had to tell you it was."

"So that was it? Your only role in this?" Somehow I didn't buy that.

"Hardly," he said, chuckling. "Max, I got you out of it."

Ohhh. Well, that would explain it.

"How?" I asked.

"I just used the same technology used to bring you there," he replied.

"What did my... wish have to do with it?" I asked, masking my embarassment.

Jeb laughed. "Max, how many Disney movies _did_ you watch at your mom's house?"

I stared daggers at him.

"Anyway, it was a test, the whole thing was a test. I didn't start the whole thing, but I turned it into one of your tests. Once you had passed, I got you out of there. I wouldn't let you die, like Jack and the Director wanted."

"So what was the test?" I asked, picking up a rock and throwing it as far away as I could. "How to deal when everyone around you has a one-digit IQ?"

Jeb smiled a bit. "There were many lessons involved," he said. "One was that you aren't meant to be normal. I think you knew that, but it's especially important now."

I wanted to ask why, but decided to shut up and listen. You know, for once.

"Another, which goes hand-in-hand with the first, is how much you need your friends. Max, you don't have to do this alone. Let others help."

Well. I had no response to that.

"The last was the one that you did realize, about the choices. Action vesus non-action. That ended the test."

I saw a flaw in that logic, though, and spoke up: "But even if I passed this test, they're still out to get me. I'm still not safe. None of us is. This is just one thing."

"Don't look at the big picture. Right now, it's the little things that matter," said Jeb.

That reminded me of something the Voice had said, but I couldn't remember exactly what. I was silent for a moment, remembering how Jack had doubted Jeb being the Voice. Yeah, right. He sounded exactly like it. Evil geneticist liars and whatnot. I decided to ignore it.

"So we're back to where we started? None of this happened?" I asked.

"Not exactly. You'll all remember it, though the girls at your 'school' won't, and neither will your mother or Ella or the kids Jack took to create the mutants. It happened but didn't happen, if you understand that."

You want to know the really sad part? I _did _understand that. Just goes to show: be careful what you wish for, people!

"Okay," I said. I wasn't looking at Jeb, who was my _father_, I remembered. That was too weird.

But everything that had happened in the last few days had been too weird. Why should this be any different? I wonder.

I was about to tell him goodbye and go back when I remembered something.

"Jeb?"

"Yes?"

"You weren't... well, Jack said... pretending to be you, that is... he said that you were in love with my mom," I said, nervous but not showing it. As you can tell.

There was silence for a little while, and I couldn't pick anything up from Jeb's expression.

Finally he said, "We were at school together. And apparently you still would exist even without being an experiment. I like her a lot, I really do. But that's all it is."

The miniscule but still present girly part of me didn't believe it. But I knew how annoying it was to be... well... _annoyed_ about that, so I didn't say anything.

"Like father, like daughter"? Don't tell me that's what you're thinking.

"Okay," I said, awkwardly breaking an awkward silence. "I -- we should get back."

He looked at me on the word 'we,' and I saw the emotion in his eyes, looked down, and started walking.

* * *

When I got back to the flock -- the people I was now _positive_ I could not live without -- I told them the whole story.

"Wow," Nudge breathed. "I always thought about being normal. I thought it would be great, bcause I'd have loving parents and friends and all, but that wasn't what I'd expected."

"Well, I doubt your real life would include a plan to save caged mutants and beat up actors and a mad scientist," I began, catching Fang's eye and grinning, "but yeah, you're right. It sounds crazy, but we're better where we are."

"How are you, Iggy?" Nudge asked. "With... not being able to see anymore?"

God, that kid just went straight to the point, didn't she?

"It's fine," said Iggy, surprising us all by smiling. "Let's face it -- we're freaks. The weirder the better. And since I'm just freakier than the rest of you, that makes me better, which makes the whole thing okay, really."

Only Iggy could come out with that, quote unquote, "logic." I grinned anyway, and stuck out my hand. We did our stack, and I felt so happy I felt like flying. Which, hmm, I could do...

"Wanna go fly around for a while?" I asked to general agreement.

"But we need a _plan_, right?" Iggy teased.

"Something to make us _useful_," Gazzy said in the same tone.

Fang and I looked at each other. I smiled.

"So what now?" Angel asked, bringing us back to seriousness.

"I want to have a funeral for Ari. I think he deserves that much," I said, slowly and avoiding Jeb's eyes. I'd almost forgotten he was there; he'd stayed out of our way, which I appreciated. It brought me so close to trusting him that it hurt.

"And then?" asked Fang.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully.

And maybe, just maybe, that wasn't the worst thing in the world.

**

* * *

**

Author's Note:

And that's a wrap! I'd love a review from everyone, even if you usually don't, just to give overall thoughts and opinions on the story. And if you're nice, you'll just... er... _forget_ the fact that I forgot Total in this story. Ha ha. Don't get me wrong, I love that dog, but I just didn't have a use for him in this story. I'm disgusted with myself for forgetting him, because I hate when people do that!

You can insert book four here! I tried to make it as compliant with both three and four as is humanly possible (no pun intended there). This is why I sort of skated -- let's say, _glided_ -- over the Jeb/Voice thing. That confused me, too... guess we'll have to wait to find out.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank _everyone_ who's read and/or reviewed, because it means so much, I cannot tell you. I'm not quite done yet, though -- Author Alert will keep you in the know of new stories and ideas from me.

Sincerely,

The ever-subtle Melissa :D

(melissaeverlasting AT yahoo DOT com)


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